The lambs have gone

We did keep the four ewes, so only the 2 rams have gone today. They will be hung for a week and then distributed - one 1/2 to us, 3 other halves sold.

Quest is now to find some more sock lambs!

Now it's the lambs...

Two of our dorset lambs are going next week, they are the two males. Our 4 ewes are staying in the hopes of breeding them next year when they get older. Next summer/fall probably. We've sold 3 halves of the male lambs, with a potential other two halves to sell if we can spare them. We may have to get some more store lambs to meet the demand before we can breed our own.

Meanwhile we are searching for an abattoir that will take our chickens once we start breeding them in a few months time - proving very difficult to find someone that will take chickens on a smaller scale.

Alan's vegetable plot is still producing more than we can eat, we've managed to sell a few things on the weekend but having to freeze the rest. May run out of room first!

Our meat has come back

And it's lovely - one pig came back today, another one tomorrow.

Available now:

Ale&Hop Sausages, packs of 6-8, 450g

Cumberland Sausages, packs of 6-8, 450g

"Regular" Sausages, packs of 6, 450g

All sausages are £3 per pack

Small 1.5-2kg joints & roasts, £6.50-7.50 per kilo

For pre-order:

Gammon, bacon, and cured pork (uncooked ham basically) ranging between £9-11 per kilo

Taking Christmas orders

Pork and Sausages for Sale!

We are pleased to announce the start of the seasons pork for sale.. Our middle whites will be coming back this Friday, August 14th and we will have 1.5-2kg roasts, chops and sausages available.

We are in Marden - and delivery to most places, Mid and West Kent and East Sussex. Phone 01622 236 171 for more details.

So what's happened..?

After a very long delay of posting, what has happened?

A brief update is that we had 10 pigs (Middle Whites, Gloucester Old Spots, Saddlebacks, and Large Blacks) until last Monday when the two whites went to the abattoir. They come back on Friday, which is very exciting. (We have pork and sausages for sale!)

In a month or two a few more are going, but 2 are fattening up to become a "baconer".

We have six lambs, 4 ewes and 2 rams. The 2 rams are going to next month.

As well as that our Light Sussex chicks are now chickens and have moved residence to the field - the black Orpingtons are next to move across and are huge and fluffy - beautiful animals. No eggs as yet but hopefully soon. One of the Orpingtons is definitely a cockerel so we are hopefully in business to start breeding our own.

And Alan has been extremely busy getting the huge vegetable plot going. We now have some gorgeous potatoes, peas, runner beans, green/purple/yellow beans, borletti beans, spinach, cabbages, chard, corn, tomatoes, brocolli etc etc the list goes on. Well done Alan, he's worked tirelessly.

And yet more pictures..

Here are our chickens, they are the ones saved from our good friends free range farm (commercially rotated yearly) and the only 2 left out of our four.  This breed is bred for high burn out, so sadly don't live long and don't give eggs very well as they age but we like that we have saved them.  They are great chucks, Catherine is able to pick them up.

Also, Alan's shelter for the pigs.  There is, sadly, no natural shad on the field so we've built a shelter on legs, corrugated tin from last years pig house on four posts.  Job done.  In the summer months we will rely on this as well as giving them a mud pit for sunscreen.

Our soon to be adopted piggies..

These will join us end of May... Saddleback/Large Black crosses.. 

It's been an busy week!!

So much has been done, the arc was put up last Thursday, Alan has some finishing touches to that and the first four pigs are now at home.  They are cute and lovely, and lively.  Alan went to get them last Friday (before Easter) with his mum, dad, and Catherine.  I assisted at the final leg to help get them out of the back of the truck.  The two landracers were quite large, they are a few weeks older than the Black crosses but still tiny and adorable.

The two chickens have been moved over (you can see their green wire fence in front of the pig enclosure) and are enjoying their massive space.  They will be joined by 6 Orpingtons in 6 weeks time.  Alan is getting the 6 chicks this weekend, and we need to keep them inside for 4 weeks under a heat lamp (raised slowly over time) and then 2 weeks outside during the day and inside at night.  They can move over to the field after that.  Those are the eating birds, but that depends on one of us learning how to kill them.  Hmmm...

Our seeds have arrived, and now that the veg patch has been measured out, Alan can get on with the tilling and preparing the land ready for planting.  Our seed potatoes are readying themselves in the conservatory, ready to bring out for planting.  

In other words, things are moving right along and very very busy.  

The countdown to our first arrivals...

Easter weekend marks the arrival of our first four pigs.  Alan has been busy this past weekend readying the field.  The pictures below were before his work started.  He's added barbed wire to the fence and gate in the front by the road.  Also, started the two enclosures for the pigs.  We are starting two spaces ready for rotation.  The pig arc is coming this week, hopefully Thursday or Friday.  Our arc is from Solway Recycling (http://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/products/shelters-pig-arcs.asp) and is 8x8, we've gone for the one with a small entrance.  Alan is thrilled as he doesn't have to build one!  

Our last batch of pigs were housed in a straw bale house with a corrugated iron roof which did the job nicely but as we hope this is a long term project we need something more flexible.  Also, something that won't take Alan a whole day to build and 27 straw bales that are useless for anything when you are done.  A waste, basically.  But it did the job perfectly for 10 months, and would have lasted another season had we stayed on our friends land and let the land recover.

More pictures and updates as this labour intensive week progresses!

Pictures!

Completion

April Fools Day brought completion on the land.  Now off to do mundane things, get a padlock and chain.  Our pig ark is coming next Thursday, with the first four pigs (Landracers and 2 Gloucester Old Spot X's) arriving on Easter weekend.  Lots to do..

The Eve of Completion.....

Tomorrow Green Acres becomes the Races new project.  Ash Grove Farms at Green Acres.  Nice ring to it eh?

So.. what are we doing?  We've been given the chance to have use of just over 3 acres of land by my in-laws.  Between us all, with no doubt lots of help from Alans family, we want to become as self-sufficient as possible.  Following the success of raising 6 pigs on land bartered with our good friends (Jennie and Alex www.faracrefarm.co.uk), we have decided to try on a larger scale of self-sufficiency.  Larger plans include more pigs (all rare breed); chickens for laying and for roasters/broilers; ewes and lambs for breeding; a cow (probably year 2!) and even growing our own feed for our animals.  We will go into why we would bother growing our own feed, but the short story is.. cost.  You can save a fortune growing your own - plus you know what is going into your animals.  And if you are eating them.. well, it's nice to know isn't it?

Why are we doing it?  We feel very strongly about animal welfare.  It's not always about avoiding eating meat altogether but having it raised as they were meant to be.  Sourcing meat responsibly.  Free range, outside, happy.  Knowing where our meat comes from, what they ate, how they were cared for.  We want our children to get involved, and hopefully develop a respect of animal welfare and high expectation of how animals should be raised.  Life cycles, growing vegetables for the animals and for ourselves.. it should be a great opportunity for them.  

We were interested in sourcing our own pigs for meat for own purposes.  Alans sister, Lou and partner Jamie had reared pigs very successfully.  Although it seemed strange at first, their success at it was very inspiring.  Thanks to our good friends with an empty orchard, we decided to try it.  Alan researched some more and found a local supplier, Oakland Pigs (www.oaklandpigs.co.uk) who are wonderful and answer our million questions, provide a bible on exactly what to do, and even talked me through an ill pig crisis.  To say they are brilliant is an understatement, and we are not only using them again but easily recommend them.  

After the 6-7 months rearing the pigs, (which are still in the freezer in various forms!) the Races decided to go into self-sufficiency on a grand scale.  We found some land local, and after a few months, hooray it's almost done.

Why are we blogging it?  To keep our friends and family updated - even if it's to shake their heads at us.  To inspire those who think it's not possible, and not have to reinvent the wheel.               

Lots of pictures, details and progress to come!